Around The Mall In 6½ Hours
by Dr. Vainglorious
Summary: Ron is being dragged around again by Kim, but this time, he is not going to take it. Or is he?


The Title:  
Around The Mall In 6½ Hours

The Author:  
Dr. Vainglorious

The Overexposed Sports Icon At The Moment Is:  
Eldrick Woods

The Fandom Is:  
Kim Possible

Kim & The Other People Mentioned Were Created By:  
Disney

Consequentially, these characters do NOT belong to  
Dr. Vainglorious

Dr. Vainglorious Sincerely Hopes:  
That Daisuke Matsuzaka is a flop in the Majors. It was just the Royals, ladies and gentlemen.

_And this is..._

**(Drum Roll...)**

_...A Dr. Vainglorious Production  
_  
**_"Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh! All right!"_**

* * *

There were many different ways to spend a splendid Saturday afternoon such as this one in the city Middleton. One way was to go out there and enjoy the day outside, taking in the atmosphere of this unseasonably warm fall day. Another way was to go out there and get some exercise or hit the ball court or the track... maybe have a picnic with your sweetheart before the blast of winter came knocking at the proverbial door. For Ron Stoppable, any one of these options on what to do with this bright afternoon would be fine with him, just as long as he wasn't... 

"Come on, Ron. Those bags aren't going to carry themselves."

...you know, trapped in the mall with no hope in getting out. Oh, an unenviable situation that young Ron Stoppable was in this very instant. When he upgraded his relationship with his best friend, the adventurous teen heroine, Kim Possible, he thought that they wouldn't be forced to play the archetypal roles of boyfriends and girlfriends with all of this carrying cargo in the mall nonsense. Of course, not that it was him alone that did the deciding to upgrade their friendship… but to his credit though, he was there.

Unfortunately for the high school senior, the archetypal role for him this afternoon was to catch a wicked hernia.

"C-coming, Kim," Ron said, straining mightily as he carried two or three bags full clothing and clothing-related accessories behind and in front of him. It was a shame for the rapidly suffering Stoppable as there were four floors of the Middleton Mall, and he was still on the first. He knew the escalator ahead of him would grant him some time in resting his aching shoulder, but another floor full of designer clothing stores were imminently looming.

As he stood still on the escalator, he sighed tiredly. His long and winding sighs were enough to gain his girlfriend's attention.

"What's wrong, Ron?" She asked.

"Well… I don't see why we can't take all this stuff back to your car and then continue with your hardcore… shop-age," Ron bargained, hoping his offer, and his suffering arms, would get through to Kim.

"Yeah, we could do that... but I think we could handle it," she replied.

_We? _He was the one carrying all the bags!

"Besides," she leaned over to his side and wrapped an arm around him. "My big, strong Ron can handle it, right?" She asked, those expressive and wonderful Kelly-green eyes looking into his.

"R-right," he quickly replied. There went another one of those boyfriend/girlfriend archetypes again --- manipulation and flattery on the part of the fairer sex, and that wasn't fair at all!

"I knew you could," she complimented, adding a light kiss on his cheek. His expression quickly warmed, but only for that moment her lips touched his reddened, freckle-ridden cheek.

This wasn't good at all... how many times was Ron Stoppable going to be subjected to this? Kim was stronger, faster, and had a lot more endurance than he could ever hope to have, so why did he have to e the one saddled with the carrying of items that he was never going to wear himself?

If he heard the word 'chivalry' as any part of the answer, they were going to get the finger, and not the index.

Once the escalator ride ceased he continued on, treading slightly behind Kim due to the baggage heavily hindering his pace. He passed by several teenagers around his age. They passed by, imitating the crack of the whip as they went. That was a total insult to him... he wasn't whipped! There was absolutely no way that he could possibly be whipped!

Well, for one thing, he had never got past first base with Kim... he tried making a hard turn past first, ignoring the first-base coach, and he was promptly thrown out trying to stretch that single into a double.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. He was sure when the time was right, and the ever-present threat of Black Holes from her dad began to cease, things would undoubtedly happen... right?

"Come on, Ron... in here," Kim said, waving him over to the next clothing store.

He sighed miserably as he obediently followed his K.P. into the next establishment.

Three more hours... and three large brown paper bags, and probably three sore shoulders later, the day for Ron had progressed nicely.

Eh, why lie? He was now on the fourth floor, it was well past four o'clock, and Kim was going back and forth through every store in the mall... at least four times. Ron grew more annoyed and resentful by the hour. How many more times was he going to be dragged around this girl? Indeed, Kim said that he _didn't_ have to accompany her, but at the same time, you _didn't_ have go outside in a downpour without an umbrella either.

Ron felt like it wouldn't be long before his knuckles were dragging on the linoleum floor. He waited by the dressing room as Kim tried on some new stuff. Moments later, she emerged, wearing a rather stylish purple turtleneck.

"What do you think, Ron?" She asked.

"It's great, lovely, five stars…" he replied, his voice wrangled with boredom and fatigue.

Kim managed to catch the lack of enthusiasm in his voice.

"What's wrong, Ron?" She asked for the second time that afternoon. Ron shook his head as muttered a couple of words before falling silent. He didn't notice the ever-growing grin on her face. "Ronnn," she purred as she moved closer to him. "You can tell me."

'Look away, look away,' he urged himself to no avail. She turned his chin in her direction.

"...or maybe you can't," she added, the smirk still on her face.

"No... Wait a sec, I can..." He tried to think of some excuses, but then again, who in the heck was he to complain? He was Ron Stoppable and she was Kim Possible! He was in no position to offer his grievances with his duties at the mall this day, but he did anyway… He probably wasn't a smarter man for doing it.

"I've been carrying these bags all day…" he began, in the whiniest voice imaginable. "We've been in the mall for six and half hours… no, I've dragged through the mall for the last six-and-a-half hours! I feel like my arms are about to fall off! I didn't sign on for this!"

"Oh, you didn't?" Kim asked.

"No, I didn't," he answered.

"But, haven't I been dragging you around for the last…" she counted with her fingers. "I don't know… ten years?"

"Well, yeah…"

"I mean, if I weren't here to drag you around, would we ever gotten as close as we got?"

"Well, no…" he replied, his eyes quickly darting toward the floor in guilt.

"And would you think we would even have _this_ if I wasn't around to drag you around?"

"No," he repeated. In fact, there were a lot of things that wouldn't have happened if she didn't "drag" him around. For one, there wouldn't have been a Team Possible. And if there wasn't a Team Possible, there wouldn't be any missions. And if there wasn't _that _particular mission months ago, there wouldn't be any beautiful girlfriend for the Ron-man. Ooh, perish the thought.

Maybe the most important was the fact that Ron wouldn't have known how amazing of a girl that Kim was.

The redhead inched closer to him. "You do know why I drag you around, don't you?"

He smiled sheepishly, much like your standard-issue henpecked husband that was being scolded. "Well, it can't be because of my decision-making skills."

She shook her head lightly. "It's because of your company, believe it or not. I like having you around, Ron… No," she quickly corrected herself. "I **love** having you around."

The sidekick's heart went into second-gear after hearing the word 'love.' He didn't know he had that kind of effect on her…. Even after all these years of their friendship.

"Besides, if you're not around or by my side, I go crazy… and who wants that?" Kim quipped.

Her voice did suggest that what she said was in jest, but there was plenty of truth in what she said. There were almost a few instances where she did go crazy without him…

"Besides, Ron… do you honestly think we would have… this…" the redhead paused to take his hand to demonstrate their new relationship. "…if you were never around me all of the time?"

Why was she asking all these questions knowing that she was precisely right?

"No," Ron replied, a goofy grin materializing on his freckled face. "I guess not."

"Good. So you're cool with me 'dragging' you around, then?"

"K.P., you can drag me to the ends of the Earth, and I'll ask if we go again," he replied, instantly forgetting the six hours plus of heavy lifting.

"Cool… let's get out of here… there isn't much stuff I like," she said. She went over to the cashier and paid for the turtleneck. Ron waited for the usher to hand him the multitude of bags. He once again dragged the rest of the sacks through the vast mall as Kim led the way.

"Hey, K.P., wait a second," he said, stopping in his tracks.

"Mm?" She asked, turning around.

"All these bags that I'm dragging, is there any reason why I have to carry all, and you carry none?"

"Oh that? Well, that's a small price to pay," she answered.

'That's a small price to pay?' He didn't get it. What kind of vague answer was that?

"A small price to pay…?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. "A small price to pay for what?"

Kim had a mischievous look on her face as she inched over to him. "For this…"

In an instant, and by instant, less than the time Ron could figure it out, Kim's lips were on his… hungrily… in front of all these people! Not that his eyes were open to notice the patrons that were staring. Her lips tasted like strawberries, cherries, and all of the other fruits that he didn't bother to eat on a usual basis. Just when the young sidekick thought it was over, her tongue proved otherwise.

If this wasn't the greatest feeling ever, then they were wrong.

The kiss lingered for about as long as Kim wanted it to go, because Ron was too busy slipping in and out of consciousness. After a couple of more moments of pure bliss and/or fainting, she released him.

He stared at her dumbstruck as she simply straightened herself out. Once she did, she went over to him.

"Face it, Ronnie… you hit the jackpot," she said alluringly before turning away from him and continuing toward the mall's exit.

The most amazing girl that he'd seen had become his girlfriend… and kissed him like that? Yeah… definitely a small price to pay, he thought.

Did he hit the jackpot? Absolutely.

"Ron... you coming?" She asked from a fair distance away.

He finally broke out of his mini-trance. "Oh, yeah... be right there," he called.

* * *

The End 

Doctor's Orders  
You see, I don't like K/R... at all. But hey! I love a challenge... don't you?

My claim still stands that only a third of K/R fics on are exceptional. So enjoy this fic, for the exceptional masterpiece that it most assuredly isn't.

Review if the spirit moves you... or you can tell me how poor this was of a K/R fic... or defend K/R fics with your very lifeblood! That's always constructive.


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